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Twente is part of one of the ten districts with which Koninklijke Metaalunie strives to combine forces at a regional level. Numerous metal companies in Twente are affiliated. These companies are engaged with metal goods, measurement and control technology, electronics, engineering, welding, construction, casting, machining, surface treatment, sheet-metal working, revision and maintenance.
Metal companies in Twente are internationally active in a wide range of economic sectors, such as machine and equipment construction, tool production, yacht and shipbuilding, agricultural mechanisation, metal goods production and steel construction. Koninklijke Metaalunie provides entrepreneurs in the metal industry with advice regarding social law, company law, business economics, tax law and administrative law. The ‘International Business’ knowledge base provides background information. The Metaal & Techniek (Metal & Technology) trade journal is published every month.
Circularity provides opportunities for new business models in the metal industry and the rest of the value chain. It is good for the environment, and it is good for business. Less pollution and less need for new raw materials and energy savings result in cost reductions in both the short and long term. Simultaneously, less scarcity of raw materials and being less dependent on price increases result in more production security.
Sustainable thinking means sustainable action. Especially in the metal industry because metal products are very suited for recycling and reuse. Above all, the properties of metals allow for numerous flexible solutions. For example, the design options are virtually unlimited. The construction industry, in particular, offers excellent opportunities to the metal industry; think of standardised dismantling after use. Metal parts will then be completely dismantled for reuse without being demolished.
Efficient, flexible, customised production, entirely driven by customer demand. The smart manufacturing industry revolves around the revolutionary integration of advanced techniques in the industrial production chains with IT. It offers unprecedented opportunities for the metal industry for the development of completely new products and services. This leads to more and more smart factories for smart objects in an increasingly smart environment.
A digital world in which IT deeply penetrates all facets of the production process, including in the metal industry, is emerging faster and faster. Machines are connected online and controlled in an increasingly intelligent manner. This happens in factories, but also between manufacturing companies and with customers. Industry 4.0 is becoming a reality. Customers have a direct influence on production processes, products are highly personalised, and they are ordered and produced in low volumes or even just a few pieces, just-in-time.
Koninklijke Metaalunie works on a sustainable future together with other network partners such as MKB-Nederland Midden in Apeldoorn.
